Yu-Gi-Oh! - Episode 156
"Fate of the Pharaoh - Part 1", known as "Yugi vs. Rafael - The Impregnable Guardian Deck" in the Japanese version, is the one-hundredth fifty-sixth episode of the Yu-Gi-Oh! anime. It first aired in Japan on May 20, 2003 and in the United States on November 6, 2004. Summary Rafael traps Yami Yugi on the butte by cutting off the rope bridge that connects it to the surrounding area, thus ensuring no-one can leave or interfere with their Duel. Denying Yami Yugi's accusations of being "evil", Rafael questions what he understands for "justice" instead. He claims that history itself decides if the road Doma walks upon is evil or not. Rafael reveals a Deck of "Guardian" monsters, which were his sole companions when he was shipwrecked on an island for three years as a child, losing his parents, brother, and sister. He signals how some of his Cards are slightly blurry, revealing they got wet time before. He's replaced the backside so as not to be recognizable this way, but it doesn't change the fact that they've supported him. He always kept his cards safe, and his current strategy reflects that bond; he will pay any cost to keep his monsters out of the Graveyard, as he doesn't want to lose anyone else. One day he was shown a vision of a mysterious island and a voice, Dartz's, told him that when he would understand everything, he would be allowed to come to his side. When he was finally rescued from the island, he found the normal world depressing. That was when he was approached by Dartz and joined Doma, hoping to find the answer to "fate" itself. One of the Monsters, "Guardian Eatos", was his birthday present just before the wreck. On a side note, Weevil and Rex arrive in the midst of the Duel and look on. Also, Yugi's friends realize that he's gone off alone: Joey, Tristan and Duke Devlin will go look for him. Téa and Rebecca stay in the trailer to take care of Professor Hawkins. Featured Duel: Rafael vs. Yami Yugi - Part 1 Turn 1: Rafael Rafael draws. He then activates "Guardian Treasure" to discard five cards and draw two cards. Now while "Guardian Treasure" is face-up, Rafael may draw one extra card from his Deck during each of his Draw Phases. Rafael Sets a monster and Sets a Card. Turn 2: Yami Yugi Yami Yugi draws "Gazelle the King of Mythical Beasts". He then activates "Polymerization" to fuse "Gazelle the King of Mythical Beasts" with "Berfomet" in order to Fusion Summon "Chimera the Flying Mythical Beast" from his Fusion Deck (2100/1800) in Attack Position. "Chimera" attacks Rafael's face-down monster, "Backup Gardna" (500/2200). The attack fails (Yami 4000 → 3900). Turn 3: Rafael Rafael draws. Due to the effect of his "Guardian Treasure", Rafael draws one extra card. Rafael then activates "Gravity Axe - Grarl", equipping it to "Backup Gardna" and increasing the ATK of "Backup Gardna" by 500 ("Backup Gardna": 500 → 1000/2200). Since "Gravity Axe - Grarl" is on the field and "Guardian Grarl" is the only Card in Rafael's Hand, he Special Summons "Grarl" (2500/1000) from his hand in Attack Position via its own effect. Rafael then activates the effect of "Backup Gardna" to unequip its "Gravity Axe - Grarl" and equip it to "Guardian Grarl" instead ("Backup Gardna": 1000 → 500/2200; "Guardian Grarl": 2500 → 3000/1000). "Guardian Grarl" attacks & destroys Yami Yugi's "Chimera the Flying Mythical Beast" (Yami Yugi 3900 → 3000). Since "Chimera" was destroyed, Yami Yugi activates its effect to Special Summon "Berfomet" from his Graveyard (1400/1800) in Attack Position. Turn 4: Yami Yugi Yami Yugi draws "Five Star Twilight" and subsequently activates it to Tribute "Berfomet" and Special Summon the five Kuriboh Brothers, "Kuriboh", "Kuribah", "Kuribee", "Kuribeh" and "Kuriboo" in Attack Position (300/200 for all). Yami Yugi then activates the effect of "Kuribah" to remove "Kuriboh", "Kuribah", "Kuribee", "Kuribeh" and "Kuriboo" from play and Special Summon "Kuribabylon" (?/200) from his Deck in Attack Position. Due to the effect of "Kuribabylon", its ATK is equal to the sum of the total ATK of all five Kuriboh Brothers ("Kuribabylon": ? → 1500/200). Yami Yugi then activates "Pump Up" to double the ATK of "Kuribabylon" for 1 turn ("Kuribabylon": 1500 → 3000/200). "Kuribabylon" attacks Rafael's "Guardian Grarl", but Rafael activates the effect of "Rescuer from the Grave" from his Graveyard, removing from play five cards in his Graveyard in order to negate the attack and end the Battle Phase. Yami Yugi then activates the effect of "Kuribabylon" to remove it from play and Special Summon "Kuriboh", "Kuribah", "Kuribee", "Kuribeh" and "Kuriboo" from the Removed from Play Zone to the field in Attack Position (300/200 for all). Turn 5: Rafael Rafael draws. Due to the effect of his "Guardian Treasure", Rafael draws one extra card. Rafael then Sets two cards ("Exchange" and "Self Tribute") and activates his face-down "Purity of the Cemetery". Now during each of Yami Yugi's Standby Phases, Yami Yugi will receive 100 damage for each monster present in his Graveyard. If there is a monster in Rafael's Graveyard, "Purity of the Cemetery" will be destroyed. "Guardian Grarl" attacks "Kuriboh". Duel continues next episode. Differences Between Adaptions * In the Japanese version, Rafael's parents were either presumed to be dead or confirmed to be dead as he visited their graves. His remaining relatives took his parents' inheritance and threw him out. In the dub, that scene of him visiting their graves were cut and he believed his family had forsaken him- since they were said to have been alive since they acquired lifeboats and never bothered to look for him even after he gained recognition as being a "miracle boy". * When Rebecca was doing research in the original, apart from mentioning Rafael's shipwreck, she also mentioned she wasn't the first national Duel Monsters champion of the United States, but Rafael was. In the dub, she only mentioned the shipwreck. Featured cards The following cards appeared in this episode. Cards in italics debuted here. Notes